Chapter Four:
Dying To Love
Sidney
Two months without a word from the little shit, and now it’s time for the rehearsal dinner and he’s nowhere to be found. I’m so angry with him that I’m practically vibrating as we all sit around the table and wait for the drinks to come out, and just when I’m about to call his handler Carter and let him have it, Levi himself walks through the door.
He’s groomed but not clean-shaven and it looks like he got his hair cut at least, but everything about him makes me want to deck him. He shows upnow?After a dozen unanswered texts, ignoring me in person when I showed up at his house, and skipping Bash’s bachelor party, he wants to show up now?
Leo grips my thigh under the table. “Breathe, Sid. Just ignore him.”
How can I when his face is just so punchable?
“Who the fuck let you in?” Bash says, but he’s grinning and walking over to give him a bro hug he doesn’t deserve. “I didn’t think you’d show.”
Levi shakes his head and moves over to hug Alaina. “I wouldn’t miss your wedding, Bash. I’m not that big of an asshole.”
I beg to differ.
After a few more handshakes, his eyes finally meet mine as he takes his seat across from me and does something that only makes me want to punch him more. He nods his head. After months of silence, this motherfucker has the audacity to nod at me?
Fine. Turning to Leo, I nearly ask him to let me suck his fingers until my nervous system regulates, but decide against it. Not here, not now, and never in front of Levi. “They’re taking their sweet time with those drinks, huh?”
“Yeah,” he mutters awkwardly. “Where have you been, Levi? Sidney was starting to get worried.”
Those piercing green eyes lock on him with a frown, but as he opens his mouth to say something, the waiters come pouring in with drinks in hand.
Thank God.
I take my wine before the waiter even sets it down and drink about half the glass, then shake my head, refusing to look at Levi again. “I wasn’t worried at all. What were you thinking of ordering, Leo? So many things sound good, but the portion sizes are ridiculously large. Do you want to split something?”
Let meLady and the Trampthis shit right in front of him, c’mon.
Chuckling, he shakes his head and leans in to whisper, “Hell no. Bash is rich enough for us to order our own food, Sid. Just ask for a doggy bag.”
Levi’s hand tightens on the table telling me he heard, but all he does is ask the waiter for something stronger than wine. Yasmin starts telling a story about Bash that has everyone’s attention, and it gives me an opportunity to glare at Levi unabashedly. Has he lost weight? Why do I care?
“Damn, where were you at, Sid?” Jonah asks, and I have absolutely no clue what they were just talking about. Shit.
Probably making sure Levi didn’t overdose, if I had to guess.
“If none of you remember, how should I?”
“Fair,” he chuckles. “Plus, it was much harder to keep track of Bash back then. He’d just vanish sometimes, but not anymore.”
“Nah,” Levi pipes in for the first time. “He still vanishes, we just know exactly where he went.”
He holds up his fresh glass of amber liquid toward Alaina, and chuckles when she rolls her eyes fondly. It’s gross how much I missed that stupid laugh.
I only end up eating about five bites of the chicken romano I ordered, but down what I have to assume is an entire bottle of malbec. Everything is fuzzy, Levi is stupid, Leo’s annoying, and if I have to hear one more story about how nauseatingly happy Bash and Alaina are, I might vomit.
I’m happy for them even now, but I’m losing my best friend here. He’ll always be around and he’ll always need me because I’m his handler, but he hardly has any time for me these days and Leo has seven-fucking-teen other people he’s hooking up with — okay, two, but it feels like seven-fucking-teen — so I’m lonely. I need this tour to come sooner.
Once the final plates are cleared, Bash announces he rented the restaurant for the whole night, so the music kicks up, our crew joins us, and Jonah makes a joke that we’re rehearsing the reception now too.
At least it gives me an excuse to get up and move away from stupidhead.
I’m pouring myself another glass when Leo holds up his phone and disappears outside, and naturally that’s when Levi chooses to approach me. “You know that’s not water, right?”
